Hess is coming to E. Tremont and Baisley avenues in Throggs Neck. But whenever that day comes, it’s questionable if the community will be happy with the 24-hour convenience store that is also part of the plans.
The Shell station that was once at the location at E. Tremont and Baisley avenues is now gone, and the site has remained empty since the end of 2007. Despite much talk in the neighborhood about the need for a third gas station in Waterbury-LaSalle, it doesn’t appear that any work looms in the near future.
Through spokespeople, Hess has reaffirmed its commitment to opening the station and the mart, but without a service station.
“The 24-hour convenience store in the new Hess station is the part of the plan that many in the Waterbury LaSalle Community Association object to,” said WLCA board member Andrew Chirico. “It might bring more cars and noise to homes located near the station, especially at night.”
Chirico, who along with a partner ran a gas station on E. Tremont Avenue in the 1970s, said that since there have been three filling stations on the thoroughfare between Bruckner Boulevard and Lehman High School for as long as he can remember, he doesn’t anticipate the opening of the gas station as being an issue.
“When the Shell station closed, we lost a repair shop that was one of the few places nearby where we could get a car inspected or repaired,” Chirico said. “We are not too happy about losing a repair shop that we feel is needed here.”
The gas station will be “Hess Express,” and include a 2,000 square-foot convenience store. Hess plans to replace the site’s three 4,000-gallon tanks with four 10,000-gallon tanks.
The slow progress on the gas station seems to have many perplexed as to what the plan actually is, since the Hess station originally was scheduled to open in “midyear” 2008.
While Hess recently said that it still plans to open the gas station sometime in the near future, a spokeswoman recently said the company still does not have an exact target date for the opening. Calls placed to Hess did not yield further comment as of press time.
“Hess has been there for well over a year, but I still haven’t seen work being done.” said WLCA president Tony Cannata. “[However,] Hess is a very dependable outfit. It is their station, and they can do whatever they want with it.”
